Samuel Perez
Born in Falfurrias, Texas to a poor Brahmin Rancher, Samuel has made himself a prominent rancher in the Cattle Country of Tamaulipas. Herding everything from Brahmin, and Longhorns to becoming one of the first people in Tamaulipas to raise and sell Mirelurks. Now he presides over the Perez Family, a prominent and powerful ranching family whose reach stretches from the town of Falfurrias to the North and Tampico in the South. Biography Early Life Samuel Perez was born in 2158 to the poor brahmin rancher, Jose Perez in the Texan town of Falfurrias. The story behind his birth was, Jose had worked on a ranch that belonged to the powerful brahmin baron Frederick Wilmington, there he had met and became friends with the rancher's daughter Marie. Marie and Jose had grown close over the years and in a moment of privacy, conceived Samuel. Yet when Marie's father heard of his daughter's impregnation at the hands of a lowly ranch hand angered Frederick (the fact that Jose was Hispanic didn't help) and thus separated Marie from Jose and her newly born child. Jose was forced to raise a young Samuel all on his own, and having been fired from his job at the Wilmington ranch he was forced to subsist with the few heads of brahmin he raised at his own home. Growing up Samuel followed his father closely, learning the tools of the ranching trade and helping his father tend to the small herd of brahmin they kept for sale and meat. Alongside this work he took up the art of shooting, with the help of his father, he became proficient with his father's old Cowboy Repeater. Using his new found skill he took to hunting in the area around Falfurrias, one location in particular; Gecko Flats was heavily populated with the dangerous Golden Geckos whose pelts were very valuable to merchants and tanners all across Southern Texas. It was here that Samuel perfected his craft, learning to conserve ammo due to the expensive price of shells he patiently and accurately cut down the lucrative beasts and then field dressed them for their pelts and meat, selling them to merchants that passed through Falfurrias. With this extra money, Samuel and his father were able to support themselves, buying what they needed and even being able to save up to buy a few more beeves. Yet one day when he was sixteen, Samuel was out on his usual hunting trip to Gecko Flats. He sat perched between two rocks and was carefully observing a small herd of Geckos when he heard the report of a small caliber pistol. Climbing to the top of the rock he spotted a young woman being chased by four Geckos, she had a small revolver with her and was plugging away at the Geckos to no effect. Jumping from the rock he took off across the dry earth and as he approached the young woman he leveled his repeater at the geckos, firing off four quick shots, killing the geckos. Going over to the young woman he saw her injuries and helped treat the nastier ones. From there he helped her back to Falfurrias, introducing himself along the way to the young woman. The young woman introduced herself as Isabel and they became friends from there. Upon their return to Falfurrias, Isabel and Samuel began to hang out, firsts as friends and soon as a couple, with Isabel accompanying Samuel on many of his hunting trips and quickly becoming rather adept with an old SKS she bought from an arms dealer. The relationship continued well into their early twenties when at the age of 24, Samuel asked Isabel to marry him. Isabel agreed and soon the two had married. After their marriage they left Falfurrias for Tamaulipas, Samuel's father had just passed away and with most of Isabel's family still living in Mexico the two set off to rejoin them. Heading South they hitched a ride with a large Ganadero Caravan with Samuel working as a guard for the Caravan's Boss Anthony De Santa and proving himself a decent guard as the Caravan shrugged off several ambushes by Comancheros. They eventually joined up with a cattle drive headed towards Uvalde, during this leg of the trip, Samuel's skill with his repeater attracted the attention of Brahmin Baron Austin Reilly, who hired Samuel on as a guard. In addition to employing Samuel, Austin helped set up the young couple in a nearby inn and get Isabel a job as a waitress at the Lone Star Saloon and Gambling Hall. Yet things took a turn for the worse when it came time for a cattle drive up to the Permian Basin. The drive started out without much issue and it stayed that way for several weeks, however, it is was two weeks into the drive when they were hit. Since the start of the drive, scouts hired by Austin to scout out the cattle trail had reported finding hoof prints, moving parallel to their own movement. This piece of news was blown off by Austin, who was more concentrated on getting his herd to his buyers in Petroleum. Yet at the end of the second week, Austin and the rest of the caravan would grow to regret their carelessness. They had camped out for the night and Samuel and another hand had just finished setting up a temporary corral when there came a crackling of gunfire from their camp. Rushing back they found the camp under attack from a massive war party of tribals, the likes of which they had never seen before. Shouldering his repeater Samuel dropped three of the tribals from their mounts and raced over to where Austin was taking cover. Austin told him to get a radio he had stuffed into his saddle bag and radio the nearest town for help. Running through gunfire, he found the radio and frantically tried to make contact with any outside source, but all he picked up was static. Throwing the radio down in frustration, he picked his repeater up and moved back to Austin's position, only to find his boss and benefactor lying in a pool of blood coming from a hole in his neck. The fight lasted through the night, in a hellish firestorm of gunfire, cries of the wounded, naying of wounded horses and war cries from the tribals. When the sun rose the five remaining survivors looked in shock at the several dozen corpses that surrounded their positions. Upon looking about the camp they found that in the lull of the fighting the tribals had not only stripped their own dead of their equipment, but had removed the gear from dead guards and ranch hands, leaving the survivors virtually nothing. To make matters worse the Brahmin had gotten loose of their corral and had either scattered, been killed or taken by the tribals. The survivors agreed to cut their losses and head towards the closest town of Mesa. There they hope to find refuge, but instead, upon arriving in town they find themselves once more under attack from the tribals. The tribals, this time, have come in force and attack the town with heavier weapons than the revolvers and repeaters Samuel and his compatriots had encountered before. The town militia rushes to defend the walls and after several hours of fighting the tribals back off. Asking around the tired militiamen they ask who the tribals were they respond that they were the Thunderfoots, a crazed band of tribals-raiders living in central Texas. In the wake of this attack, Ephrem Salt VII immediately began to form a force to go out and attack the Thunderfoot tribe and hopefully prevent any sort of further attacks on the Midessa Compact and on Salt's caravans. With the support of the Midessa Compact Ephrem was able to form a force of several dozen mercenaries to strike at the Thunderfoot, Samuel realizing the threat that the Thunderfoot were to the Permian Basin and to his wife down in Uvalde he joined up with the force, sending a letter to Isabel explaining his situation. The force left town several days later, under the command of Enos Wells the force walked and rode on their path towards the Thuderfoot tribal homeland. Yet again, only three weeks into their travel the force was ambushed by Thunderfoot brave, and like the attack on the cattle drive it was a slaughter. The mercenaries and Enos were butchered in the hot desert sun, with only Samuel and a few others once again walking away unscathed. Making their way to a nearby trade route they met up with the first caravan that came along and hitched a ride back to Uvalde. There they all went their separate ways, the Thunderfoot were to become the bane of every merchant traveling between Mexico and the Permian Basin, leading to a long series of conflicts as merchants and their militias struck at the Thunderfoot and the Thunderfoot sent raiding parties to hit caravans and small towns. However, with the efforts of mercenaries and resolute merchants the trade routes, with a few exceptions would stay open if with a few more hazards. However, upon his return to Uvalde (now under the control of the True Patriots), Samuel was reunited with his wife Isabel, seeing her for the first time in two years and unfortunately with empty hands. Upon seeing him she embraced him and then promptly broke down, she told him how the owner of the saloon had raped her on several occasions and forced her to keep it quiet. Enraged Samuel took his Colt Python, walked over to the saloon and shot the saloon owner four times. However, this action turned out to be a bit premature as it turned out that the saloon owner was also the son of a cattle baron who was well connected with the Patriots, thus forcing Samuel and Isabel to leave town with a lynch mob on their trail. Los Guardianes del Rio Bravo Making their way South Samuel and Isabel quickly arrive at the Rio Grande, tired, hungry and out of money. Looking for work Samuel signs on with the group of mercs they encounter; known as the Guardianes del Rio Bravo they were one of the many border mercenary companies who control entrances into and out Mexico and force travelers to pay exuberant fees to use their bridges. Rather than force themselves into paying the fee, Samuel offers his skills as a mercenary to the Guardianes and after a brief demonstration of his skills, he was inducted into the organization, becoming its 29th member. For several weeks the work is easy and the pay is good as Samuel sits back and collects fees from the safety of the bridge's fortifications, with Samuel making enough money to set Isabel up at a nearby inn. However one day a courier comes into town with a message for the Guardianes' commander Toby Masterson, it is a job offer from a contact named Hannon who needs a very sensitive package escorted across the river into Texas. Never one to refuse pay he sends the Guardianes' second in command; Sergeant Slater and two men named Dulles and Warner to retrieve the package. They meet up with Hannon who takes them back to a cave where he is hiding his package, which turns out to be a shipment of silver from Mesa Plata. What Hannon doesn't tell the mercenaries is that he had stolen the silver from a caravan and was now being hunted by bounty hunters. The Guardianes escort Hannon to the bridge where he spends the night, during which the various mercs and bounty hunters track him down to the bridge and promptly surround it. When dawn breaks the next morning, the mercenaries and bounty hunters demand that Hannon and the silver be handed over, at first angry over Hannon's dishonesty but when Hannon offers to give Toby and Slater a cut of the silver they agree to help defend him. With their decision made they make their position clear to the mercenaries surrounding them, this is met by a barrage of gunfire on the reinforced walls of the bridge's protected sides. The Guardianes rush to their positions and just as the gunfire dies, the mercenaries throw a wave of men at the defenders. The Guardianes manage to hold their own, with Samuel taking several mercenaries down with his G3 Assault rifle but attack after attack quickly wares the Guardianes down and burn through their ammo. With little choice left than to try and break out, Toby plans an attack for the next day at twilight. When the time comes for the attack, the Guardianes set off confident that they will make it through easily, however, a lucky mercenary spies their movement and fires off a flare illuminating the early morning darkness. The attack turns into a slaughter as the Guardianes are cut down in the open field with only Samuel and Hannon managing to make it away. With Hannon, an injured Samuel starts back to the town where he and his wife are living, the town of Greer's Landing. After making it to the town, Hannon thanks Samuel for the help in getting him out of the jam and promptly pulls a gun on him. Surprised and angered by this double cross Samuel is about to raise his own rifle when a shot rings out and Hannon drops to the ground. Behind him stands Isabel with a .38 revolver in her hands, happy to see him Isabel helps treat Samuel's wounds. However, realizing that the mercenaries who were tailing Hannon would still be searching for him he grabs Isabel and the box of silver ingots and begins to limp West for Nuevo Laredo. Moving South Samuel and Isabel arrive in Nuevo Laredo and immediately Samuel opens a bank account at the nearby bank, their plan was to slowly deposit their money into the bank and spend very modestly until the heat lays off. In the meantime, they settle down into a small house owned by the local Land Baron named Isaac O'Donnell. They begin life in Nuevo Laredo and slowly Samuel is able to deposit their silver into the bank, making the excuse that he was a silver miner that was run off his plot. However just as they begin to settle in the bank where their money is being held is robbed by the infamous Jack and Kate Wilson, the brother-sister bank-robbing duo. The bank was a small affair and had no backup for money lost and thus Samuel and Isabel went from riches to rags in the process of a few hours. Realizing there is no way they could stay in Nuevo Laredo, Samuel and Isabel quickly pack their bags and leave once again tagging along on a Ganadero caravan headed back home to The Saltlands. They arrive a week later in Tampico foot sore, out of money and tired. Needing a steady supply of caps Samuel decides to enlist in the Provisional Defense Force, however, due to his slim physique and the bullet lodged in his shoulder the recruiters turn him down and instead recommend him to the Royal Tampico Constabulary which was short on manpower at the time. Samuel is accepted into the Constabulary and is sent off to basic training, being one of the oldest men in his class. Meanwhile, Isabel gets herself a job as a stockwoman in a warehouse owned by the Royal Caribbean Trading Company. A few months later Samuel completes his training and is assigned to the 9th Precinct, where he is placed on the night shift with his new partner David O'Dell. They work together for several months, going on midnight foot patrol through Tampico's red light district; chasing off drunks, arresting unregistered drug dealers, break up bar fights, and shutdown unlicensed brothels and so on. This routine is only broken when Samuel goes to visit his wife at work or at home. On one such occasion Samuel surprises Isabel with a nice dinner of Brahmin steaks afterward he impregnates Isabel. Several weeks after a visit to the doctor it is determined that the child is a boy, their new son Alexander. One year later Alexander Perez is born in 2195. Three weeks after Alexander is born Samuel is called back into work from paternity leave with Isabel and young Alexander for a raid on a massive illegal drug operation. The operation had been reported to the Constabulary by one of their street informants and due to the size of the reported operation, the Constabulary needs all the officers they can get. Samuel arrives at work and is given an MP5 and told to keep his civilian clothes on as he and David are to help ambush the narcos. David and Samuel walk to the location of the drug lab and duck into an alleyway to watch the location. They are joined by several more plainclothes officers and even a squad of PDF troopers. They wait as other officers and troops get into place before breaking down the door to the lab and arresting everyone inside. Over the next three weeks, a number of attacks occur on officers of the Constabulary, it turned out that the lab was owned by the Los Reyes, a powerful street gang. Fearing that his wife may become a target Samuel begins to wife to work every day and even manages to work out with his sergeant to have an officer stop by during the day. It is discovered that the Reyes are run by a man named the Jackal and after his drug operation was ruined he decided to go into the gun running business with the idea to ambush Constabulary officers and take their weapons for sale. One night when David and Samuel are on patrol they hear shots ring out from around the corner, they arrive to see two officers pinned down behind a building by gunfire from several of the Reyes' gangers. They trade fire with the gangers and soon they take off up the street and run into a patrolling squad of PDF troopers from the Tampico Guards. The guard's open fire on the gangers and with the help of the officers the gangers are either arrested or killed. Surprisingly among those found dead was the Jackal himself, his eyes still dilated from all the Jet he had taken. Without the Jackal at their helm, the Reyes quickly break apart into smaller squabbling gangs that are slowly cleaned up by the Constabulary. After the run-in with the Reyes, Samuel is promoted to Sergeant. Over the next year, the Constabulary is routinely called forward to put down civilian protests, most of these are peaceful civil rights protests from the Hispanic population. The constant use of brutal tactics by the constabulary quickly earns the disgust of Many of its officers, from the use of tear gas and attack dogs on protestors to even being ordered to fire into crowds when they refuse to comply with police orders. Thoroughly disgusted with the institution Samuel he belongs to and at his own actions Samuel and Isabel agree to leave Tampico with young Alexander, buying a horse and wagon they leave for the Cattle Country. They arrive about a week later in San Fernando and using the caps they have left over from their time in Tampico they purchase a small ranch home and a few heads of cattle for sustenance. However needing money they begin to sell a few for profit, with this venture turning into their main revenue source. However, they can't compete with the bigger Cattle Barons and thus Samuel begins to look for a niche he can set himself into. He finds it while out on a hunting trip with his new friend Harrison McLain. They are out after Geckos, but being along the coast they quickly encounter a few Mirelurks, this gives Samuel the idea to somehow ranch Mirelurks. Taking as many eggs as he can from a Mirelurk nest he takes them home and fashions a makeshift incubator out of an old chicken coop. From there he raises the Mirelurks, ensuring that they get a good supply of irradiated water and feeds them chunks of rats. Eventually, they grow up and much to his surprise are somewhat domesticated, the only issue being if they encounter other humans. Keeping them penned up in a corral he begins to line up buyers up north and makes his first drive to the town of Zap-City. With this new venture, Samuel becomes the only Mirelurk rancher in all of the Cattle Country, earning enough money with his profits to start buying out smaller ranches which lead him to join the San Fernando Cattlemen's Association. However as he becomes more powerful he runs into his first major opponent Jonn Mackall, Jonn is a small time Baron who is looking to work his way into the big leagues like Samuel and he intends to do this by knocking Samuel's venture out. Angered by this challenge Samuel hired small groups of mercenaries and confronts Jonn, demanding that he back down. Jonn refuses and in turn challenges Samuel to a duel an offer that Samuel agrees to. The two men begin shooting at each other, with neither being able to kill the other, soon the cowhands on the ranch and Samuel's mercenaries getting involved. After a half hour of both sides, trading gunfire Jonn is lying dead along with a good number of his cowhands, alongside three of Samuel's mercenaries. Samuel with a bullet lodged in his stomach limps to San Fernando where he seeks medical attention from the town doctor. The doctor treats Samuel and a month later he is released from the doctor's office and returns to his ranch to find that after his duel with Jonn he had gained the respect of his fellow ranchers in San Fernando, that and he had been attained the land once controlled by the Mackall family. Two years his second son Ronald is born in 2202. Rise to Power Samuel's continued rise to power can best be described as a butchery or intimidation of anyone who wouldn't willingly sign over their property to him or to one of his various representatives. Over the years stretching from 2202 to 2240 he bought or seized twelve different ranches around San Fernando, making him one of the most powerful cattlemen in all of the San Fernando. Naturally, this process earned him many enemies throughout the area and thus he had begun to hire more and more mercenaries to not just enforce his own orders but to escort his cattle drives and to guard his ranches. It was through this process that he met the former 33rd trooper, Mike Carrera. Mike had seen his fair share of violence in the Northwestern Corridor and had decided to take his skills to the freelance market. Thus he had joined up with Samuel and after proving his worth several times over he quickly was promoted to the family's security chief along with becoming the personal bodyguard of Alexander Perez. In 2212 Samuel's third son Anthony Perez is born and in 2220 his fourth and final son James Perez is born. He quickly begins to groom his sons to take over the family business when they are old enough. During this process, Alexander shows himself to be a level-headed businessman and just as ruthless as his father can be. The family's power grows over the years until in 2243 disaster strikes the family and the business. Death by Vigilante In the year 2243, the people of San Fernando turned on Samuel and his family. It is not known what caused the sudden attack on the family estate but in retrospect the reasons were obvious. Samuel had been for years growing his family's power and wealth through some of the most cut-throat tactics a man could use, from using mercenaries to kill his competitors, harassing their cattle drives, holding family members hostage and even hiring Comancheros to raid their homesteads. Eventually, the people of San Fernando had enough of Samuel's actions and the San Fernando Anti-Cattle Rustling Committee was sent to have him arrested. However, things didn't quite go that way. It was at night when the group of Committeemen set off from San Fernando, donning their sack-cloth masks they arrived at Samuel's ranch. A few shots were traded with some of Samuel's mercenaries and soon the whole estate was alight with gunfire as the night riders and mercenaries traded shots with one another. Samuel taking up his Widowmaker and Brush Gun he went to face off with the night riders. With the help of his mercenaries, they managed to hold off the committeemen for about a half hour before they ran out of ammo. Fearing for his family, he sent them off with Mike Carrera and few other mercenaries with all the remaining ammo they had with the order to get them to safety. Preparing to face off against the final onslaught he pulled out Isabel's old .38 revolver and a bowie-knife. Entering the foyer fo his home he found that most of the surviving mercenaries had abandoned him to save their own skins. Facing off against about 23 vigilantes with only six shots from a revolver and a bowie-knife he managed to kill one and wound two others before he was cut down by their gunfire. For his family, the sight of their burning home was a hard to look at and even harder to accept. With the help of Mike, Alexander, and his brothers Ronald, James, and Anthony managed to save a few heads of cattle and Mirelurks before riding off into the night. The death of the family patriarch hit the Perez's hard and fleeing San Fernando for Valle Hermoso they found themselves to be weaker up North in Valle Hermoso. There they resided and continue to, trying to reclaim their former position as captains of the bovine industry but can't seem to shirk the sins of their father that continue to plague them today. Because of Samuel's actions, the Perez Family has been barred from joining the Valle Hermoso Cattlemen's Association and many other their former clients won't do business with them anymore. They continue to reside today as a smaller cattle family living in Valle Hermoso. Equipment Samuel's equipment has never been very consistent. He usually will use whatever sort of equipment he finds, buys trades for and thus what he has used is all over the place in terms of weaponry and clothing, but some pieces do manage to stick around a bit longer than others. In terms of clothing, Samuel was born to a poor vaquero, he never had money to buy nice suits or proper clothing and what clothing they did have was usually well worn and dirty. Thus Samuel in his early days typically wore a pair of worn out blue jeans with a cowhide shotgun strap over them. This accompanies his plaid work shirt and often times with his vaquero blanket placed overtop to keep him cool while he works, all topped off by a worn old cowboy hat. In his later years, with more money in his pocket, he often allowed himself to purchase nicer clothing for when dealing with clients and thus owned a single gray suit and a black suit. In terms of weaponry, Samuel left his Father's old ranch with his old Cowboy Repeater and a few dozen rounds stuck into a bandoleer. However after his various misadventures between Mesa and Uvalde, he lost his dad's old Cowboy Repeater, but having purchased a Colt Python from a gun store owner in Uvalde he ran with that piece for a while before he traded it in for a G3 Assault Rifle when he worked as a merc. After the mercenary business caved in he joined up with the Royal Tampico Constabulary and was given a Browning Hi-Power as his police pistol, finally after leaving the Protectorate he bought a Winchester Widowmaker from a gun dealer he met and then came into the ownership of a specialized Brush Gun taken from a dead Comanchero. Outside of his clothing and firearms, he possesses a leather holster, bandoleer, small rucksack made from cowhide, a canteen, a holder for his long arms (like the Brush Gun) and pair of binoculars, and when occasionally a saddle, although he hardly ever owned a horse. Personality Samuel's personality can best be described as being warm and friendly and for this reason, he has earned many friends in many places across the Texas - Mexico wasteland. From befriending trail bosses that would later help his cattle move from Mexico to their destination at reduced costs, to well-trained mercenaries, many of whom now work for him to future clients Samuel's friendly demeanor has won him more than a few clients and battles over the years. However one shouldn't ever let themselves fall into the belief that just because Samuel is friendly that he is weak, rather Samuel has had issues with his temper and emotions in the past, from gunning down the saloon owner in Uvalde to putting two into a disobedient cowhand. However, it should be noted that his temper is only really triggered when his wife has been affected or when he is personally attacked. Appearance In his younger days, Samuel was a clean-cut, young man. Yet as he grew older he slowly began to grow a beard, which he sported until the day he died. Family *'Samuel Perez '- Family Patriarch until his death in 2243, founder of the Perez Family Empire along with his wife Isabel. **'Isabel Perez '- Family matriarch after the death of Samuel, until her own death in 2245. **'Alexander Perez '- Samuel and Isabel's oldest son, heir to the Perez family fortune and empire. Survived his younger brother's attempts to kill him. ***'Clint Perez '- Worked with Family enforcer, Mike Carrera for a time before running off to form a Comanchero gang in The Highlands. ***'Dwight Perez '- Family drunk, shunned by family for having a relationship with his younger sister Angela. ***'Angela Perez '- Would later go on to marry into the powerful Royal Caribbean Trading Company after being shunned by her own family. **'Ronald Perez '- Middle child of Samuel and Isabel, worked as family CFO for a time before attempting to kill his older and younger brothers. Killed by Mike Carrera. ***'Randall Perez '- Oldest son of Ronald Perez, didn't buy into Ronald's madness and would later go on to help his uncle, Alexander in running the family's affairs. ***'Elizabeth Perez '- Youngest daughter of Ronald Perez, would later go on to become a renowned Trail Boss and give birth to the current head of the Perez Family; Matias Perez. ****'Matias Perez '- The heir to the Perez family empire, current patriarch of the Perez family. **'Anthony Perez' - Son of Isabel and Samuel, would work as a trail boss before running off to California to escape his older brother's men. **'James Perez '- Youngest Son of Samuel and Isabel, worked as family enforcer before his death at the hands of his older brother Ronald. *'Mike Carrera '- Former 33rd trooper who later became the chief of security for the family's ranch and cattle drives. Was killed in 2259 by Falfurrias mercenaries. 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